Queensland Roar got their National Youth League campaign off to the best possible start, defeating the Melbourne Victory 2-0 in the opening game of the season on Friday afternoon.
In front of a small but vocal crowd at the Green Gully Reserve, goals from Joshua McVey and Mitch Nichols gave the Roar a deserved victory.
Queensland had the best of the opening exchanges, putting some heavy pressure on the Victory defence.
The Roar were happy to sit back and counter-attack, but couldn’t find the decisive final pass.
Melbourne had a lot of the possession but struggled to convert it into scoring opportunities.
Some brilliance from Nathan Elasi brought the game to life in the 38th minute, the youngster’s excellent trap and volley beat Roar keeper Griffen McMaster, but unfortunately for Elasi, not the upright.
Steven Pace could have put away the rebound, but his scuffed shot went straight to McMaster.
The deadlock didn’t last long after halftime however, with substitute McVey volleying home after Mitch Nichols good work along the flank in the 48th minute.
Queensland doubled their lead 15 minutes later, after a mistake from Victory goalkeeper Mijo Marinovic.
The keeper received the ball but rather than clearing it straight away, he tried to step around Roar midfielder Nichols and only succeeded in deflecting the ball off Nichols and into the back of the net.
Elasi nearly pulled one back for the Victory on 79 minutes. The ball fell to the striker at the back post, but his rising volley flew just inches over the bar.
Queensland were reduced to ten men late on after defender Ben Griffen was sent off after retaliating to a challenge from Melbourne forward Milos Lujic.
Roar coach Rados Vidosic was pleased with what his side had gained from their first match.
“Three points and a good performance. I think with a young side it’s hard to defend well all the time but I think that’s what we did,” Vidosic said.
“The second half was much, much better, because we were able to get into the game more,” he said.
Melbourne coach Mehmet Durakovic was philosophical about his side’s defeat.
“Football’s a funny game isn’t it, the first half we played well, but the second half we were terrible,” Durakovic said.
“We made some mistakes, it was two mistakes, two goals and that’s it.”
Match Details
Melbourne Victory 0
Queensland Roar 2 (Joshua McVey 50-, Mitch Nichols 65-)
Green Gully Reserve, Melbourne
Melbourne Victory line-up: 1.Mio MARINOVIC (gk), 2.Robert WYNNE (6.Cameron DRAKE 60-), 3.Ante CICAK, 4.Matthew FOSCHINI, 5.Steven PANTELIDIS , 7.Aziz BEHICH (11.Dimitri HATZIMOURATIS 60-), 9.Mathew THEODORE, 10.Milos LUJIC, 12.Nathan ELASI, 13.Daniel VASILEVSKI ( 8.Stephen HATZIKOSTA 60-), 14.Steven PACE
Substitutes Not Used: 20.Sebastian MATTEI (gk)
Yellow cards: Nil
Red Cards: Nil
Queensland Roar line-up: 1.Griffin McMASTER (gk) (20.Matthew ACTON (gk) 60-), 2.Michael RYAN, 3.Daniel BOWLES, 5.Matthew MUNDY (9.Tyler THURTELL 60-), 6.Mitch NICHOLS, 7.Adam SAROTA, 8.Michael ANGUS (11.Josh McVEY 46-), 10.Tom OAR (14.Isaka CERNAK 60-), 13.Chris GROSSMAN, 18.Tim SMITS , 19.Ben GRIFFIN
Substitutes Not Used: Nil
Yellow cards: Mitch Nichols 67-
Red Cards: Ben Griffin 83-
